Touring the country with my sales seminars and customer service training programs, I came across a gentleman from Kentucky who spoke unusually slowly. He was my program sponsor, so I was particularly interested in cultivating his good will, yet I found the temptation to try to speed him up nearly irresistible. I would almost automatically machine gun back uh-huh and right and okay and other words of feedback to encourage him to pick up the pace. When I did this, he slowed down, even more! Finally, I gave up, or rather gave in, to his pattern. I forced myself to relax, to allow him to mosey along at whatever pace was comfortable for him. And from that moment on, we got along like the best of pals. Too often, as salespeople, were rushing for no good reason. Instead of calibrating our tempo to our prospects, we push them without knowing it, merely through our speed of vocal delivery. And, as you know, most prospects are wary of fast-talkers, concerned that were trying to slip something by them. So, inadvertently, we create barriers to communication, needless hurdles, because unconsciously weve allocated only so much time to speak to every prospect. By slowing down, we can avoid this problem, while creating the kind of atmosphere in which customers can relax, and many of them welcome the opportunity, and reward us for doing so with their business. So, slow down. And your order taking will probably speed up! |
